Motivational Speaker

Glenda Watson Hyatt shares her
experiences living with cerebral palsy to
motivate and inspire others to think about
how they perceive their own situation and
their own world around them. She does all
this by typing with only her left thumb!

Breaking News…

Presentation Description

For the masses, the iPad is the latest, hottest, must-have toy. But, for people with disabilities the iPad is life changing: enabling communication, unlocking minds and fostering independence. However in purchasing these devices lays the challenge: oftentimes websites with product information are inaccessible to this market, which has a discretionary spending power of $175 billion in the United States alone.

The sessionâ€™s goals are to identify some barriers people with disabilities regularly face, making it difficult to participate fully online; explain the four guiding principles of what makes blogs and websites accessible; and offer key questions to begin asking and what resources exist to make sites more accessible to this under tapped market. By giving short vignettes of how people with disabilities are using iPads, faces are put to the size of this disability market – and putting faces to the need for web accessibility. This brings alive the technical requirements and guiding principles of web accessibility.

Questions Answered

How is the iPad life-changing for many people with disabilities?

What is the size of the disability market and its spending power?

What are the barriers people with disabilities face online?

What are the four guiding principles to creating accessible websites and blogs?

Early last year I declared my intention to combine two passions â€“ my love for blogging as a way for communicating and sharing and my experience and expertise in the field of web accessibility â€“ to assist bloggers in creating blogs accessible to everyone.

I did write several posts here on blog accessibility. However, I was continually torn between risking driving away my non-bloggy readers and not developing the topic in enough detail to build a following in that area. The topic desperately needed its own space.

The solution?

I did what almost any blogger in a similar situation would doâ€¦last month I launched Blog Accessibility where I can completely dive into the topic, explore it in depth and really serve those bloggers who want to make their blogs accessible to people with disabilities.

For those of you who have no interest in techy, bloggy stuff, have no fear! This blog isnâ€™t going anywhere â€“ Iâ€™ll still be blogging here too. If you have any burning questions Iâ€™ve yet to address on this blog, ask awayâ€¦

I submitted my speaker’s proposal in early July. Because SXSW is a community-driven event, acceptance of my proposal is determined by three factors:

30% by SXSW staff,

40% by the Advisory Board – a group of industry professionals from across the US and around the world,

30% by you, my loyal readers and fans!

Voting is now open until Friday, August 27, 2010, at 11:59pm central time. To vote, you’ll need to create a account (name, email and password). (The Panel Picker interface is experiencing a few hiccups today. Please persist!)

After a year in the making and too many late nights these past couple of weeks, I am excited to announce that Blog Accessibility Mastermind is being launched today!

Blog Accessibility Mastermind is an innovative online course and mastermind experience, introducing bloggers to the concepts of web accessibility and providing them with easy-to-implement techniques for increasing their blogsâ€™ accessibility to include individuals with disabilities — a whopping 18% of the population.

Earlier this year, I posted my 21 goals for making 2010 awesome, with #3 being to launch my <still secret project>. After a year in the making, I am excited to announce my secret project!

The idea came to me shortly before SOBCon last year, and the overwhelming response to my presentation confirmed I was heading in the right direction. I then spent the summer taking a course from Yaro Starak to learn from the best how to create what I wanted to create. I even resigned from a Board of Directors of an organization that I believe in to minimize the distractions and demands on my time. However, other distractions did come along, and when thereâ€™s money attached to them, itâ€™s difficult to say no.

While at the retreat with the Random Twitter People (Paul Merrill, Deb Brown, Becky McCray, and Jon Swanson) in early May, brainstorming occurred, ideas clarified and questions asked, resulting in a launch date boldly set. (Gulp! Several anxious moments have since followed.)

This project combines two of my passions: my passion for blogging and all of the magic and power to connect people that comes with blogging, and my passion for web accessibility, which has been my â€œday jobâ€ over the last twelve years, when Iâ€™m not blogging. My goal is to share what I do know about web accessibility with fellow bloggers to build an accessible, inclusive blogosphere.

On June 14th, Iâ€™m launching Blog Accessibility Mastermind â€“ a six-lesson course introducing bloggers to the field of web accessibility and giving them ways to increase their blogâ€™s accessibility, within the confines of their blog theme and blogging platform. This introductory level course at an one-time introductory price will be limited to 15 people.

To be among the first in line when doors open on June 14th, be sure to download the free ebook â€œHow POUR is Your Blogâ€. If you recently received a Blog Accessibility Mastermind News Byte entitled â€œDo Your Flashing Ads Cause Seizuresâ€, then you are already in line. No further action is required.

More details coming shortly, but those with the ebook will have first dibs on the 15 seats. Go grab your copy now!

Meanwhile, I have a course to finish writing and a website to finish buildingâ€¦